Motorsport: McLaughlin claims controversial Supercar crown

Plus Hamilton wins again as Ricciardo farewells Red Bull.

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For the second year running the streets of Newcastle hosted a controversial finish to the Supercars Championship.

But this time Scott McLaughlin was on the right side of the result. After last year’s heartbreaking defeat following a disastrous final race of the season, the 25-year-old and his DJR-Team Penske team made no mistakes this time around.

However, what should have been a thrilling, winner-takes-all finale was denied by a controversial penalty to McLaughlin’s title rival Shane van Gisbergen. The pair entered the weekend 14-points apart, which was then cut to just two-points when McLaughlin ran out of fuel on the final lap of Saturday’s race, allowing van Gisbergen to sneak past and claim the win.

It was a relatively short-lived celebration for van Gisbergen though after his Red Bull Holden team was penalised for a pitstop infringement as the fuel filler hose was still attached to the car when it was lowered off the jacks. Stewards took until Sunday morning to deliver a verdict before eventually adding 30-seconds to van Gisbergen’s race time, meaning he dropped 54-points behind McLaughlin heading into Sunday's finale.

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Regardless McLaughlin was strong and ran in the lead for the majority of the race before putting up little resistance to an on-form and hard-charging David Reynolds who claimed the last race victory of the season. McLaughlin finished second to seal his championship honours.

“I’m so relieved” McLaughlin said after the race. “Last year was just a massive kick in the guts, and I feel like we built all year to come back and turn that negative into a positive.”

The win was a fitting farewell for the Ford Falcon, claiming its 17th championship success, with McLaughlin driving car #17. It was also the first drivers’ championship for DJR-Team Penske since the American powerhouse joined the sport in partnership with local legend Dick Johnson.

It was the first championship for Dick Johnson since John Bowe triumphed in 1995, and, in between, the team struggled to survive as costs increased in the sport. The arrival of Roger Penske and his meticulous approach to the sport has turned the team into a formidable front runner. The American was on hand to witness McLaughlin cap a remarkable year for Team Penske which also included Australia’s Will Power winning the Indianapolis 500 and Joey Logano claiming the NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

For van Gisbergen, it was a disappointing end to the season and he admitted the Sunday morning penalty was a bitter pill to swallow and affected his race performance.

"It was a tough one, I obviously got the news of the penalty this morning and everyone was so dejected by it and we couldn’t get going,” he said.

However, he was able to draw positives from the season, the first with the new ZB Commodore, and enjoyed the on-track fight with his fellow Kiwi McLaughlin.

“Overall, it was still a pretty awesome year with what we’ve done with these new cars, especially the way we recovered mid-season - we had an average start and then it got better and better," he said.

"It was just tough, but it is what it is. They [DJR-Team Penske] have been awesome competitors the last two years, and it’s good for them to win it - they just made less mistakes and we were as fast as them this year, but they got the job done, so congrats to their team.”

Outgoing champion Jamie Whincup, who finished in third place on Sunday, congratulated his successor, who adds his name to the series’ champions trophy.

“It’s the biggest prize in Australian Motorsport and I think Scotty deserves his name on it.”

Supercars: Lowndes farewell

While the sport was welcoming McLaughlin to the top echelon it also farewelled a former champion, as Craig Lowndes hung up his helmet from full time competition.

While the three-time series champ could only managed 11th place in his final race, he secured fourth place in the drivers’ standings; underlining his decision to go out while still in his best form.

The on-track results didn’t matter much though, as Lowndes was feted by the rest of the grid throughout the weekend. All teams and drivers formed a guard of honour before Sunday’s final race and allowed Lowndes to lead the field around to the grid, in his one-off golden Holden.

"It was emotional, the lead into the race was really special, something I'll remember and cherish for a long time,” Lowndes said.

“To finish fourth in the championship is real credit to the team, it showed we can still fight it with the best and I'm really looking forward to closing this chapter off now. 2019 will be a big year in lots of ways.”

Lowndes finished his Supercars full time career with 107 race wins, three titles (1996, ‘98 and ‘99), five Barry Sheene Medals for ‘best and fairest’ (2005, ‘06, ‘11, ‘13 and ‘15) and seven Bathurst wins (1996, ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘10,‘15 and ‘18). He can still add to that tally as he’s signed to compete with Red Bull Holden Racing Team in the endurances race in 2019.

F1: Hamilton caps year with another win

Lewis Hamilton finished the 2018 Formula One season in style, claiming his eleventh win of the year.

The Mercedes-AMG driver once again looked in control throughout the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite two safety car periods and needing to run longer on his second set of tyres than anyone else. As was the case throughout the majority of the season, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was his closest challenger, but once again had to settle for second place.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo narrowly missed out on the final podium spot to Red Bull Racing teammate, Max Verstappen. He admitted it was a disappointing way to end his time with the energy drink-backed team before he moves to Renault in 2019.

“I would have loved to sign-off this chapter with a podium, so I can’t be ecstatic with fourth and there is a little disappointment there,” Ricciardo said.

He reflected on his time with Red Bull, the company that supported him on his way to F1 and made him a household name.

“I would have loved a championship with them but Red Bull brought me my first pole, victory and podium,” he said.

“Everything I have done in F1 is down the them and I’m incredibly grateful for that. The moment before the race with everyone in the garage showing their love and appreciation was really cool and that’s certainly something I will never forget. I thank the team for the last five years and Red Bull for the last 10. I would have loved to drink out of my shoe and celebrate with the team one last time, but now I close this chapter with thanks and love for everyone in the Red Bull family.”

The race also likely marked the end of Fernando Alonso’s F1 career, and despite finishing in a distant eleventh place he was honoured by both Hamilton and Vettel on the cool down lap. All three champions engaged in donuts on the main straight in celebration.

Stephen has been interested in cars as long as he can remember. Speed is in the blood as his great-grandfather was a motor racing pioneer in Australia, establishing several land speed and racing records.
Based in Sydney, professionally he has been writing about everything on four-wheels since 2001…

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2 COMMENTS

matt83 — 26 Nov 2018 15:18

DJR won in 2010? Despite HRT buying the #1 - DJR still won the championship